


A World Is Waiting For Me (A Road That I Rarely Use)

by Tht0neGal666



Series: Haunt The Lonely [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, ESPer!Haruno Sakura, Gen, Kakashi did not sign up for this, POV Hatake Kakashi, cannon character death, ex-anbu kakashi, i had an idea, introductions, it isn't really a focus because kakashi doesn't know but, it's always the quiet ones, jonnin sensei kakashi, ok update new chapter 2, skipping the bell test
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-02-28 08:32:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18752761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tht0neGal666/pseuds/Tht0neGal666
Summary: "And your hobbies?" The pinkette spoke up before they moved on, seeming annoyed."Training. Getting stronger." He answered with a shrug. "There isn't anything I especially enjoy doing." The Uchiha glared at her, urging her to drop the subject, but she didn't seem to even notice, glaring at a patch of air behind the space between them instead of the boy himself."We'll fix that." She claimed primly, and Kakashi spoke up before it the Uchiha had time to rebuttal.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, lots of people liked this really fast! Neat! Anyway, as mentioned in some comments, I have the impulse control of, like, a child in a toy store, so here's the next bit. Enjoy!

"I...See..." Kakashi said in face of the pinkette peculiar reaction to his name, although he really didn't, "And no comment. You'll have to try harder then that to find out." he informed the girl, and she nodded with determination. The pinkette was civilian born. Where would she have 'heard all about' Friend Killer, ANBU Captain Kakashi of the Sharringan? And, furthermore, why was she so chipper about it? Most of the stories told about Kakashi were not kind or clean things. If she had 'heard all about him', she should be terrified. Instead, she seemed fairly comfortable, maybe even glad to meet him. Their was a weird relief to her, and he didn't know what to do with it. So, instead, he just moved on.

"Anyway, as I was saying. I'm Hatake Kakashi. I have no intention of telling you my likes and dislikes." Minato-Sensei's son wrinkled is nose in displeasure, but the pinkette just started giggling. He elected to ignore it. "As for my dream......I have a few hobbies."

"Kakashi-Sensei," the pinkette weakly protested, still giggling. Her gaze was focused with a creepy intensity on him, but he somehow felt that her attention was drifting elsewhere. "Kakashi-sensei, all we learned about you was your name."

"Yeah!" The blonde cried, with more conviction then the pinkette. Kakashi soildered on with how he scripted this conversation out in his head, again ignoring their protests.

"Now it's your turn. You first." He snapped his fingers and singled the girl out. She sat a little straighter, eyes clouding over for a second before clearing her throat. Kakashi got the ominous feeling that she would be a larger headache then her file lead on.

"I'm Haruno Sakura! what I like...I like reading. Being alone. The night. training. Ichiraku Raman. Sasuke, I guess. And Naruto, of course!" She added hastily with a glance at something invisible, to the surprise of the boy himself. Sasuke seemed unaffected. "Mostly reading though." She trailed off again, thinking about it more then Kakashi anticipated any of them would. "Dislikes? I don't like it when there's a lot of people in one place, especially shinobi, but I'll get over that probably. Eventually. I can't eat Dango. Don't like sleeping. Or graveyards. Including the Uchiha Compound." The girl didn't seem to notice her teammates flinch beside her as she continued. "And I hate being interrupted or sabotaged for 'my own good'. I already said my hobbies, right? Reading, Being alone, Training. Still mostly reading though. I used to garden." She hummed, and then her eyes steeled and determination burned in her gaze. "And my dream? I'm going to help my friends. Find a few people, maybe punch them a lot. We'll see how it goes." she shrugged, and he could feel she was omitting things from her very vague goal, but there was a bit to unpack there as it was. "Oh, and I'm gonna see your face. It's very important." A headache indeed.

"Alrighty. Uchiha?" He moved on, shoving his questions for the girl down his throat. He was a sensei now, not an ANBU captain. This wasn't really an interrogation, just a team-building exercise. 

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. There are many things I hate, and there aren't a lot of things that I like." Naruto grimaced away from the boy as he let loose a touch of killing intent. Sakura frowned. "I have an ambition that I have no intention to leave as just a dream. The revival of my clan, and to kill...a certain someone." He said, short and sweet but still just as loaded as the girls. Kakashi could never get the easy road, could he?

"And your hobbies?" The pinkette spoke up before they moved on, seeming annoyed.

"Training. Getting stronger." He answered with a shrug. "There isn't anything I especially enjoy doing." The Uchiha glared at her, urging her to drop the subject, but she didn't seem to even notice, glaring at a patch of air behind the space between them instead of the boy himself. 

"We'll fix that." She claimed primly, and Kakashi spoke up before it the Uchiha had time to rebuttal. Honestly, he was with the pinkette on this one.

"And lastly?" He prompted the blonde, and the boy wasted no time starting. Kakashi couldn't tell if he was also avoiding a conflict between his potential teammates or if he was just that excited for his turn.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto! I like instant raman, and I really like Ichiraku Raman, Dattebayo, And I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you put the raman in the raman cup, and my hobby is eating different kinds of Ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage, Dattebayo! Then the whole village will start respecting me and treating me like I'm somebody. Somebody important, Dattebayo!" He rambled. That was...interesting. He tried not to think about it too much.

The three of them were all different from each other, and he tried not to draw comparisons as he explained the test the next day. He Shun-shined away, the sound of complaints and giggles following him. Tomorrow morning would be interesting, if nothing else.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kakashi discovers that he should maybe not ask Sakura to kill her teammates; apparently, it's something she's a little Touchy about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so I said I wouldn't write any of the actual Gennin exams but then I actually watched the episode and couldn't resist sneaking this in. It's a new chapter, to any of my previous readers. Enjoy!!

"Why do you think we put you on squads, did you consider that?" he chided.

"Teamwork." The girl stated, like it was the easiest question in the world, and then her brow furrowed. "Wait, was that the point of this test? But you set it up with three people and two bells! If we worked together and got the bells then only two of us could keep them. That wouldn't be teamwork. It'd create internal discord." she scowled.

"Of course. This is a test set up to pit you against each other. I wanted to see if you could overcome that and put the needs of the squad ahead of your own. The intention was to select those who could prioritize teamwork." He explained, snapping his gaze up to meet hers.

"Sakura! You refused to even try to help Naruto or approach Sasuke while I was nearby. Even if you do care for your teammates, it means nothing if you are too cowardly to help them!" He snapped. The girl opened her mouth to protest, but then wilted under his gaze and looked away, staring into the middle distance in thought, and Kakashi moved on. "Naruto! You do everything on your own. Everything." He scolded, before pushing the Uchiha's face into the dirt even more. "And you, Sasuke. You labeled the other two as hindrances and acted on your own. Arrogance." He reprimanded, before looking back up.

"Shinobi missions are carried out in squads! Of course, you need individual skills, but teamwork is considered more important then that. Every Konoha Shinobi understands this. When individuals put themselves above the squad, it leads to failure and death." He lectured.

The girl didn't seem to be paying attention to him anymore. Her fists were clenched, and she was lost in thought. That definitely couldn't stand.

"For example," Kakashi continued, pulling a Kunai up to Sasuke's throat. "Sakura! Kill Naruto now, or Sasuke dies!" He demanded, and the girl went as white as a piece of paper. She didn't seem to register the panic of the blonde as she gripped her Kunai and took a deep breath.

That reaction was...unexpected. As a civilian who supposedly has little to no idea how the ninja world was, she should be more shocked then...Angry? Kakashi tensed, ready to interfere if the girl actually did go after the blonde.

Not even Kakashi was expecting it, when the girl darted forward to attack the her Jonnin instructor. Kakashi barely disarmed her and pushed her hand down at the wrist, locking the joint and bringing her to her knees. She let out a yelp of pain, but looked up to meet his cool gaze with an enraged and confused fury.

He had an unwelcome flashback to the first and all but last time he attacked Obito with real ill intent. Rin had planted herself in front of the Uchiha and broken Kakashi's nose before he even thought to put up a fight; she had never registered as a threat to him before. He never made that mistake again.

"That can happen, on a mission." he continued, a little softer. He could barely hear himself, still trying to escape the clutches of his memory. "The enemy takes a hostage, you've got an impossible choice, and someone ends up dead."

"I won't abandon my comrades." The girl whispers, quiet but sure, and only for Kakashi's ears as she refuses to break eye contact. He stares the girl down, and she doesn't even twitch. She looks at him with a knowing but angry glare, and her statement from the day before repeats in his head: Oh Kakashi-Sensei, I've heard all about you.

He blinks first, trying to bat back more memories as he pushed the girl back and she stumbles back to the logs, falling on her butt right in front of the blonde. Both of her teammates are staring at her with eyes wide enough to pop out of their heads, and she was still glaring at him. He took a deep breath and continued his speech.

"Every mission is a life risking assignment." he stated, sheathing his Kunai and making his way over to a familiar monument. The girl's breath hitched. "The many names engraved on this stone...These are all Shinobi who are called Heroes in the leaf village."

"That's it that it that's it!" an annoying voice interrupted, "I've decided I'm gonna have my name engraved on that stone! I'm not gonna live and die for nothing-" The brat continued, before suddenly being cut off with a yelp and a loud thud. Kakashi turned and saw the girl standing, absolutely livid, over the blonde.

"Over my dead body." She spat, but neither boy reacted at first as they stared in shock at the tooth on the ground. The blonde prodded the now empty space with his tongue, as if to confirm it was no longer there. After a few silent moments, the blonde's head snapped back up and he started yelling again.

"Oh yeah? Well that's tough, because you can't stop me! I'm gonna be a ninja, and a hero, and the hokage, and my name's gonna be on that stone because I'll be so awesome, Dattebayo!" he ranted, and the girl's fist clenched like she was going to punch him again. The Uchiha stepped away from the both of them.

"You idiot, that's the memorial stone! It's for Shinobi who were KIA." She growled

"Well I think that sounds really cool!" The boy yelled, and the pinkettes hand twitched.

"It means Killed In Action! They all died on a mission!" She shouted, standing on her toes so she was eye level with the blonde. Slowly, realization dawned on his face and she backed off, taking deep breaths. Her eyes were darting between three empty spaces, but she seemed to still be paying attention when he spoke up again.

"The names of my most precious people are engraved here." He admitted, letting the heaviness of that statement sink in as he renewed his composure. "I'll give you one more chance, but I will make it much harder on you. You have three hours to get a bell. Eat lunch now to build up strength, but Naruto doesn't get any." The blonde growled, and he smiled. "It's your punishment for trying to eat by yourself. If someone tries to feed him, they will be immediately disqualified. I make the rules, you follow them, got it?" He said lowly, and then Shunshinned away.

He barely had time to hide in the trees and turn around to observe, before the girl grumpily popped the lid off of her lunch and fed the boy tied to the log, muttering a steady stream of curses about Kakashi. The blonde was shocked at the gesture, but readilly accepted it nonetheless.

"What do you think you're doing, Sakura?" The uchiha demanded harshly. The girl winced at the harst tone from her crush, but didn't falter in her actions.

"I'm promoting teamwork and cohesion by ensuring that all members of our unit will be in top working order when the test starts again." She replies, surprisingly curt. "Is there a problem with that, Sasuke-Kun?"

The brooding boy did not respond, but he did raise a bite of food to the blonde's mouth as well.

Kakashi heaved a sigh and resigned himself to the suddenly extremely likely fate of being a Jonnin sensei and readied a genjutsu to spook the little brats.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really feel like writing the bell test for this. It goes basically the same because even though her ghost friends know what the bell test is and how to pass, they know that telling her would really ruin the point. Her crush on Sasuke is a lot more mild but she still freaks when she sees him 'dying'. She's kinder to Naruto because Kushina is like. Right There. And also because Ghosts don't give a shit about S-Rank secrets, so Kushina already told her about Naruto's 'tenet'. She's a little less reluctant to feed Naruto. That's about it.

Kakashi, as a trained Jonnin and ANBU captain, did not laugh at the terrified faces of the brats he'd been assigned to test, as he threw up a Genjutsu to make it seem like the sky suddenly got stormy and appeared like a reaper in front of them. "You three are one, huh..." He mumbled, threat heavy in his voice, though he managed to resist adding killing intent. That would probably be a bit much. He crouched in front of them, and finally smiled. ".. You Pass!" He chirped, genjutsu falling like wet paper.

"P-Pass? Why?" The pinkette -Sakura, he corrected, because if he was keeping these cute little gennin he should probably learn their names- asked, eyes focusing just over his shoulder on something he couldn't see or sense, though they kept trying to float back to him. He'd...probably have to deal with that at some point. Her file mentioned psychosis, though it also claimed she had moved past it. Problem for another day. 

"The kid's I've had previously were blockheads who just listened to what I said." He bemoaned, as the last of the clouds faded away. "Shinobi need to think beyond the normal."

"In the world of Ninja, those who break the rules are scum-" He stated, words still bitter and familiar on his tongue, when he was interrupted.

"But those who abandon their friends are worse then scum, yeah Sensei?" Sakura finished quietly, looking over the memorial stone with a secondhand grief. Kakashi almost wanted to ask where she heard that, or where such grief came from when it wasn't anywhere in her file, but instead he just smiled and nodded.

"Very good, Sakura-chan." he praised, because he heard somewhere that praise was important with kids (probably from Gai), but she seemed to be spacing out again. "The training ends here. Everyone passes! We will start training tomorrow!"

"Yes sir!" Sakura nodded, attention snapping back to him again. Naruto was chanting excitement about his promotion, and even Sasuke was grinning in satisfaction. 

"Let's go home." He commanded, walking off, Sakura and Sasuke fell into step behind him. He honestly wasn't sure he was ready to spend much time at all with Minato Sensei's son. All he could do now was put it off for as as long as possible.He was more then content to leave Naruto behind and come back for him later, if he felt like it.

That is, until Sakura twitched beside him and cleared her throat. "Um. I'm going to go cut Naruto down, if that's alright." She posited shyly, but did not wait for his order before she scurried off. 

He gave a resigned sigh and muttered "I suppose.", even if she was no longer around to hear it. Sasuke huffed besides him, though he couldn't tell if it was annoyed or amused. Maybe both.

Naruto fell from the post with a groan from his stomach so loud that Kakashi and Sasuke could hear it, even from their position several feet away. Sakura brightened suddenly, hurrying Naruto over to Kakashi and Sasuke with a deceptively innocent glint in her eye.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei?" She started, waiting for him to hum in acknowledgement before continuing. "Well, since you so rudely interrupted our lunch, I was wondering if you could take us out to eat? Please?" She requested, and Kakashi groaned as even Sasuke's stomach rumbled at the thought of food. 

Well, he was an ANBU Captain of a suicide-mission squad that always came back alive and the sole scion of an old clan. He had more then enough money to buy his new team a meal. "Maa, when you say it like that Sakura-chan who am I to refuse?" He sighed. "where to?"

"Ichiraku's raman!" Naruto interupted, but Sakura nodded and Sasuke didn't protest, so Kakashi steered them towards the famous raman shop, ignoring the old nostalgic pain. He hadn't been here since Kushina-nee dragged him in the night before Naruto was born. She had absolutely insane and gross cravings, all to do with Ramen, and Kakashi had been more then ready to get it over with at the time. Nowadays, he'd give almost anything to almost throw up while Kushina scarfed down three bowls of chocolate-kiwi-miso pork ramen with extra seaweed. 

"Oh, and Kakashi sensei? Make sure you eat too! You're all skin and bones. Raman is the cure to looking like a twig, I've heard." She demanded before she sat down. Kakashi only froze for a second as he recalled Kushina-nee saying something similar once, before he sat down a stool away from his students and let them order.

_'Maybe,'_ he thought with uncharacteristic optimism, as he watched his Naruto tell Sasuke that he can totally eat more ramen then the Uchiha and Sakura smile like it's some sort of inside joke, _'Maybe this won't be so bad after all. Maybe they'll be fine.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah, it's probably obvious that this was really rushed, sue me. Better yet, comment something nice and wait the two years it'll take for me to go back and edit this because I'm a human disaster that can't edit things. Hope you guys enjoyed anyway, though! I forgot to say before, but I'm on Tumblr @Tora-the-cat . Come talk to me!


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